Among the many different types of musical instruments are wind instruments. In general, wind instruments are musical instruments having resonators that set air into vibration when an instrument player blows air across or into a resonator. The resonator creates a pitch that depends on the configuration and dimensions of the resonator. In use the instrument player modifies the musical pitch using one or more of a wide range of playing techniques that modify the resonator or air vibration.
Wind instruments are of two basic types: brass and woodwind. Some woodwind instruments use reeds to help set air in the resonators into vibrations. Of such reeded woodwind instruments there are two basic types: single reed woodwind instruments and double reed woodwind instruments. Double reed woodwind instruments include, among others, the bassoon and its variations, the oboe and its variations, and the English horn and its variations. Other woodwind instruments such as the bagpipe come in both single reed and double reed versions.
Double reeds require careful fabrication to arrive at the desired sound profile. The process of making double reeds was first established in the mid-17th Century. Since then, except for a number of tooling changes, very similar processes are in use today as then. First cane tubes are harvested from a suitable cane. Those cane tubes are then split lengthwise into equal pieces, traditionally 3 pieces. Splitting is usually performed by a cane splitter such as the cane splitters available from FORRESTS MUSIC, 1849 University Ave., Berkeley, Calif. 94703 U.S.A.
The split cane pieces are then cut to the desired length (such as 75 mm) A typical cutting tool would be the Reeds and Stuff model UHBG guillotine. The cut cane pieces are then pre-gouged to a working thickness. Pre-gouging is a process wherein the cut cane pieces are roughly formed into the desired final shape. A typical machine for pre-gouging would be the Reeds and Stuff model UHBPGM pre-gouger. The pre-gouged cane pieces are then gouged to an accurately controlled thickness. A suitable machine for gouging would be the Reeds and Stuff model UHGMO.
The accurately gouged cane pieces are then shaped into a desired final shape. This typically requires two machines, a shaper tip handle such as the Reiger handle #RBSH, and a shaper tip, such as one of the set of Reiger tips #RBST. A shaper such as the Reiger #RBTPM could also be used. The cut and profiled pieces are set end to end to form the double reed. The ends are then cut such that the end tips are removed and the exterior is scrapped with a knife for smoothness and final sound tuning. An example of a scrapping knife is the Reiger #RBKNFF.
It should be understood that good quality tools for forming double reeds are expensive, easily costing thousands of dollars. In addition, the prior art process of making double reeds was subject to a significant amount of waste caused by human error and became tiring after making numerous double reeds.
A double reed is comprised of two pieces of arundo donax cane that vibrate against each other. Different double reed instruments use different styles of double reeds and different double reed styles produce different sounds. In fact, different arundo donax reed materials behave differently. Glotin cane tends to be a medium-soft cane having a rather paler color. It generally requires a slightly thicker finishing gouge to produce good sound. While Glotin reeds have an overall silky texture it does vary from piece to piece. Some cane tubes yield some harder pieces while others are softer and stringy. Glotin cane is generally thick-walled with tight vascular bundles which can be very appealing. Finished Glotin reeds have a focused, rich sound, but because it a rather soft cane reeds longevity is not particularly good.
In contrast to Glotin, Rigotti is the ‘work-horse’ of the cane world. It is a medium walled cane having a generally golden color and moderate vascular bundles. Rigotti is quite easy to work with, which enables prepping and gouging Rigotti to the finished contours without adjusting the final gouge. Finished Rigotti double reeds produce a focused, full sound and have a good life-span.
Another reed material is Medir. Most Medir cane is grown and harvested in the Var region of France or from Spanish Catalonia. Medir is a medium strength cane with a darker golden color and some marbling. Medir is medium-walled with moderate vascular bundles and its tubes tend to be very straight and thus can yield a high number of processed pieces per given weight. Easy to work with, Medir finished reeds have a focused, rich sound, but are not quite as vibrant as Rigotti or Glotin.
Loree is probably the most popular and consistent double reed cane. A medium hard cane with a rich, golden color, light marbling, and smooth texture. Very consistent in terms of processing provides a high yield. Loree produces a very stable reed with a full, focused sound and with a rather long life span since it is a harder cane. The finished Loree gouge may need to be adjusted slightly to finish thinner in the center to facilitate vibrancy. While variable, Loree cane tends to have a high consistency in the final scrape and overall it is easy to work.
Pisoni cane is also a popular. Pisoni cane is generally a medium-hard to hard cane with a golden color, smooth and even texture, and some marbling and produces a high yield of finished pieces. Pisoni tubes are generally straight, and the final gouge may be adjusted to be slightly thinner to help vibrancy. Finished Pisoni double reeds tend to have a decent life span and to produce focused sound, albeit sometimes rather ‘bright’ depending on the scrape.
Var select cane is a medium-hard to hard cane with a rather pale color, a dull texture and tends to be somewhat tricky to work. Consistency varies but in general Var is a medium-walled cane with tight vascular bundles which can use a slightly thin final gouge to facilitate vibrancy. The resulting reeds usually have good longevity. Harder pieces have a much more focused sound that can be ‘bright’ whereas softer pieces are less focused and less stable.
Rieger cane is a medium-hard to hard cane, golden in color, thick-walled with some marbling. Rieger cane is generally very consistent with very straight tubes that produce a high yield of finished pieces. The final gouge may be adjusted to finish slightly on the thinner side to help facilitate vibrancy. Rieger cane generally requires more effort to get reeds vibrating, but reeds made of Rieger cane are usually very focused and sit up in pitch.
Alliaud is one of the hardest canes. Alliaud has a darker golden color, tight vascular bundles, very thick walls, some marbling and produces an even scrape. Alliaud require effort to get the reeds vibrating, but the resulting reeds have a long lifespan and are very focused and stable. Alliaud is usually very consistent between harvest dates. The yield is slightly low as some tubes tend to be twisty which results in fewer finished pieces per weight. Alliaud is particular well-suited for smaller diameter double reeds.
From the foregoing it can be seen that fabricating double reeds is time consuming and the required tooling can be expensive. Furthermore as can also be seen the various cane types require different tooling work and have different sound properties. Given those issues a new system for fabricating double reeds would be useful. Even more useful would be a new system for fabricating double reeds that take less time and that can be tightly controlled to produce useable reeds. Ideally such a system would be easy to adjust to work with different reeds, would work well with different types of reed materials, and which could be readily adjusted to produce customized double reeds. Beneficially such a system would reduce the human effort and drudgery of producing double reeds while also increasing yields.